– Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison.
I pray everyone had a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving gathered with their family and friends. And it’s hard to believe, Christmas is yet upon us again, seems that the year just flew by. And so, this past Saturday on my long six-mile run, I reflected on the past week.
Earlier this week I was contacted by a man here in Texas, who offered a very interesting proposal. His concern was that big cities were drowning out the voices of rural communities. He asked if it were possible to have an electoral college at the State level. All week long I have been pondering his proposal, and then, during my Saturday morning run, it hit me.
We are living in a real “Hunger Games”.
I am quite sure you have heard the saying of “art imitating life”, that adage applies here. Think about the trilogy movie series called “The Hunger Games.” The premise of the film is that in America there had been a civil war. The resolution of that conflagration was that the government, described as “The Capitol,” divided the country into Districts. Each of those Districts were responsible for certain commodity production that served the purpose of The Capitol. The Capitol was the place where the elites resided, while the Districts were rural, and existed under the watchful eye of the tyrannical government…and yes, they were disarmed.
Consider what is happening in America if you examine the 2016 presidential electoral map as broken down by counties. Look at Oregon. It is primarily red save for two major places, Portland and Eugene. Washington State is red except for one major spot, King County – Seattle and Tacoma. Nevada is the same, red except for Las Vegas (Clarke County) and Reno. New Mexico, the same is repeated, most red save for Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
Colorado was once a strong red state, but due to Denver and Boulder, it went from purple to blue. Virginia was flipped from blue to red because of the major population counties in Northern Virginia of Fairfax and Prince William. And down south traditionally conservative, red, States such as Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida are watching its major cities, population centers, trend to the progressive socialist left…potentially placing these states in danger of flipping.
As well, consider major Democrat [Socialist] controlled States such as New York, California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Many describe Pennsylvania as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Alabama in between. In Illinois, save for Chicago (Cook County), the Land of Lincoln is quite conservative. It is no surprise to anyone that New York City dominates the political atmosphere of the State of New York, upstate New York has little in common with the five boroughs, especially Manhattan. As for California, once outside of the coastal population centers, you will find dedicated, strong conservative regions.
Here in my home state of Texas, the same is being exemplified. Texas possesses three of the top ten largest population centers in America…Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. The I-35 corridor of Texas is dominated by progressive socialist control from Denton down to San Antonio. In the Houston city limits last year, every single elected Republican was defeated. And El Paso can boast that it is home to Robert Francis O’Rourke.
It is as Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence and third president, stated. America is becoming divided between the major population centers, “The Capitol”, and the rural areas, “The Districts.” And it is in these population centers where the elitists reside, and as Jefferson asserted, the corruption exists. We must be honest, the greatest failures of governance in America is found in these urban population centers…controlled by the progressive socialist left.
In Texas we are witnessing the migration of many businesses and corporations, such as Toyota N.A. from California, fleeing the onerous and intrusive failed big government policies. These businesses and individuals are escaping the tax, regulatory, and tyrannical that have been associated with progressive socialism throughout history. It is the reason why so many fled other countries where this philosophy of governance has driven them to the shores of America.
And, when one considers Jefferson’s quote in his letter to James Madison, you can understand why we have the US Senate and the Electoral College. This was established to give the smaller states, more rural areas, an equal voice to the larger more populated centers, areas, States. Yes, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2016 election, translating to some 12-13 states. In the Electoral College, it was a landslide victory for Donald Trump, who won 30 states. Now, what do we hear from the progressive socialist left? Yes, end the Electoral College, they prefer the tyranny of a pure democracy…the rule of “The Capitol” over the Districts.
Sadly, this is happening in many of the States in our Constitutional Republic, and I do not find it by coincidence. If there is one thing about the left in America, they are highly strategic. They are relocating into economically successful and strong conservative States and turning them blue, based upon the concept of “The Hunger Games”. They are fortifying themselves within the cities, the population centers, which are often strengthened by the academic, media, entertainment, cultural, and political elites.
The greatest amount of despair, despondency, death, crime, pestilence, and corruption is found in our large American cities…and we know who controls them. Thomas Jefferson was so very prescient, and correct, with this assertion. And isn’t it rather interesting that the left wants more public transportation and electric vehicles which regulate, constrain, the movement of Americans?
We are living in the real Hunger Games.
This column was originally published at CNSNews.
The views expressed in CCNS member articles are not necessarily the views or positions of the entire CCNS. They are the views of the authors, who are members of the CCNS.
